Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive Todd Greenberg said he is ‘open’ to considering hosting an Ashes Test in India. He said that it wasn’t among CA’s plans for the near future, but it would be an opportunity to ‘put more content into certain areas’.
The Ashes is the oldest and the most prestigious Test series, played between England and Australia every two years, with each powerhouse hosting the five-match series alternatively. An Ashes Test has never been hosted out of England or Australia. Doing so would require clearance from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“We’d have to be open to consider all options,” Greenberg told the BBC. “Our relationship with the ECB but also the BCCI
is very strong. And clearly, there are opportunities in India to put more content into certain areas. That’s not something we are currently planning, but it would certainly be open for consideration.”
India is the biggest market for cricket because of its population size that dwarves England and Australia. But attracting this market will require a delicate balance between wooing the Indian audience, which only prefers high-value Test cricket and at some centres of the sport, and not upsetting the traditional watchers in Australia and England, some of whom watch cricket only for the Ashes.
“I think Test cricket between us, England and India is still very strong, probably bucking the trend as to other parts of the world. So we want to make sure we continue to grow it and strengthen it. The challenge for all of us in global cricket is there are only 365 days in a schedule and we probably need another month or two if we actually can generate the content we want to,” Greenberg said.
Meanwhile, the CA is in advanced talks with the BCCI to host a Big Bash League T20 match in Chennai.
